Hi, POPS!
Ageing rock fan? We’re never too old to rock and roll, my friends. 😀
I’ve heard of Gemmell but don’t have any of his works, alas, though I suspect this will change – The Drenai series seems a good place to start, and Gemmell’s Wiki page handily provides the chronological order of the events in the books as well as their order of publication.
In a similar-ish vein, I fully recommend the Riftwar series by Raymond E. Feist – an Earth-like world where a country bearing a strong resemblance to 8th century Britain but with Elves, Magicians and the occasional dragon, is invaded via a rift in space-time by soldiers from another world that bears a strong resemblance to early 16th century Japan, but with Priest-Mages. After the first 3 novels he co-writes with Janny Wurst a second trilogy based on the world of the Invaders telling the story from the perspective of the invaders, and then another six novels telling the stories of the second generation. It’s very good.